Chapter 262: The Greatest Spoils |
Poet's music would last only five minutes. Once it stopped, the goddesses would descend again.
There was no time to waste. Ambrose immediately summoned the Golden Throne, converting his Mist Step into a long-distance teleport. In a single instant, he arrived at the entrance of the tower.
The tower should have been protected by powerful defensive magic, but after Trisna was ambushed and the alliance of goddesses collapsed, the drow inside had decisively fled. By the time Ambrose arrived, the defenses had already failed.
He didn't dare linger and rushed straight toward the top floor.
The moment he approached, the music shook his very soul.
No wonder it could disrupt divine will. Even Ambrose felt dizzy and desperate to escape.
Fortunately, the undead had no conventional hearing. "Sound" was perceived through the soul, so he simply suppressed his senses and forced himself forward.
He reached the Spider Queen Loss just in time. The wound in her abdomen had already healed halfway. A little longer, and she might have fully recovered.
Without hesitation, Ambrose flew down, stuffed the Spider Queen into his personal space, then grabbed Trisna—still pierced through the chest by Shara's dagger—and tossed her in as well.
The battle outside was already nearing its end.
Only Gareth was still rampaging across the battlefield like an overexcited child.
The drow had completely lost the ability to resist. Their morale shattered, they scattered and fled in all directions.
The moment Heki Stone saw Ambrose return, he excitedly asked, "What did you get? Let me see!"
Ambrose deliberately shifted into a human form and shot him a look of disdain.
Despite contributing the least, Heki Stone was the first to ask for a share of the rewards.
Still, he didn't keep the others waiting. He pulled the unconscious Spider Queen out of his extradimensional space.
"…Wait. Something's wrong. Her wounds are healing again!"
Ambrose was startled. He had carefully frozen time inside his space, and those wounds should have remained unchanged. Yet they were nearly healed.
Black Rose reminded him, "Your control over time might not work on deities."
That made sense. The space created by a Wish spell was still inferior to divine power.
Ambrose quickly checked Trisna. Thankfully, despite bearing divine blessings, she was still fundamentally mortal and remained frozen in time.
"But what do we do now?" Ambrose asked. "Once she heals, she'll wake up. No matter how weakened she is, are we really going to fight a god?"
He directed the question to Poet. Among them, only this senior truly had the authority to speak on killing a god.
Poet pondered for a moment. "Let me think. For now, keep the wound from healing."
"…How?" Ambrose asked.
"Let me try," said the ghoul Yugasi.
His claws lengthened like short swords as he drove them into the Spider Queen's chest wound.
Despite boasting strength capable of tearing apart dragons, he barely widened the wound by less than a centimeter.
Such was divine resilience. Though she had been punished by Aion, the Spider Queen Loss was still monstrously difficult to kill.
"I'll help," Ambrose added.
He extended his anti-magic blades and cut along the wound.
Blades that could easily slice through steel now struggled against mere skin, as if an invisible force protected her body.
Grinding his teeth, Ambrose began to use both arms. He even made the blades vibrate at high speed, like saws.
Together, they finally reopened the wound. The Spider Queen, whose eyelids had begun to twitch, fell back into deep unconsciousness.
Ambrose glanced at his blades. Even the adamantium edges had dulled.
"So this is how strong a god is…"
For the first time, he truly felt the gulf between mortals and divinity.
Yugasi then bared his fangs, secreting a dark gray venom, and bit into the wound.
The bite itself did little damage, but the poison seeped in and halted the healing.
"This is my ability," Yugasi explained. "Wounds I infect never heal. Though… against gods, it likely only slows down their healing."
Ambrose observed the wound carefully. It was still healing, but far more slowly.
"Senior, what now?" Ambrose asked Poet. "I checked, and she doesn't even have a single divine artifact on her."
They had captured a god… but couldn't take advantage of her.
After a long silence, Poet finally acted.
He plucked his lyre, producing a harsh melody so unbearable even the undead wanted to cover their ears.
The Spider Queen's body began to split into overlapping images: a rotting corpse, a chaotic shadow, the graceful form of a drow woman…
The shifting illusions radiated immense pressure. Just as Ambrose was about to collapse, the music stopped.
"As expected," Poet said. "This is not the complete Spider Queen. It's an incarnation formed from part of her divine authority. Aion's punishment wasn't as severe as it seemed. He didn't cast her fully into the mortal world, but only stripped away part of her domains."
Ambrose immediately admitted, "I don't understand." This was knowledge beyond what any mortal tome would contain.
Poet continued, "The Spider Queen holds many divine domains, individually weak but collectively significant. Aion stripped away four of them and placed them in this body. If we can extract those domains, we could create gods. Of course, compatibility matters. If you fuse with an unsuitable domain, you'll die horribly."
In other words, this body contained four divine domains, enough to create four gods.
"How do we extract them?" he asked eagerly.
Usable or not, it didn't matter. He could always trade the domains away, or perhaps give them to his master.
"I'm afraid I don't know."
Poet's answer shocked Ambrose. "But, Senior, aren't you a god yourself?"
Ambrose had been acting under the notion that the President and this vice-president were both divine. Poet's admission to the contrary stunned him.
"If I were, Aion would've struck me dead the moment I interfered earlier," Poet said calmly. "My power resembles that of a god, but I am not one in truth. It's complicated, and I'll explain later. Simply know that I can't help you extract them."
Ambrose frowned. "What about the President? Can't we ask him?"
Poet shook his head. "Don't bother. He won't intervene in matters like this. You know many gods, don't you? Ask them. None of them will refuse."
That made sense.
Ambrose immediately took out a coin given to him by the God of Alchemy and spoke casually, "Master, you there? I've got something good. Come quick!"
Within seconds, a voice replied from the coin, "What is it this time? I'm busy. Don't bother me if it's nothing."
The members of the Elegiac Society stared at Ambrose in stunned silence.
Even knowing his connection to a god, this was absurd.
Drow had to perform elaborate rituals, sacrifices, and prayers just to receive divine attention.
But Ambrose had received a response with a single sentence.
Heki Stone was especially shaken. He had thought Ambrose was merely bragging, but this sort of treatment made it seem as if he were the God of Alchemy's misbegotten son.
But Ambrose didn't care about what the others thought. A chance at divinity lay before him.
"Master, I've caught the Spider Queen. She's in a half-dead state. Can you help me extract her divine domains?"
The God of Alchemy replied instantly, "What nonsense are you talking about? Even at my peak, I wasn't her match."
"It's true! Descend and come see for yourself! I've never lied to you, have I? How can you doubt someone as sincere as I am?"
The others felt the situation grow even more surreal. Just what kind of relationship was this? Did the God of Alchemy perhaps owe Ambrose a few hundred million gold or something?
The coin burst into radiant light, forming a projection of the God of Alchemy.
"Well, this is lively," he said, glancing around, then paused when his gaze landed on Poet. "You got dragged into my student's madness, too?"
Ambrose gaped. "Master, you know Poet?"
The God of Alchemy chuckled. "I'm his junior, in a manner of speaking. So you're the ones who helped, I see. My student wasn't lying, after all."
He turned toward the Spider Queen's body and sighed. "To think even such an ancient god can face destruction… Very well. I can help you extract her divine domains, but you'll need to send her over to me."
He looked at Ambrose. "Do you trust me?"
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